Lea named to national team
After the largest women’s selection camp ever — and the first one held at the new home of the national volleyball team, the Richmond Olympic Oval — Aidan Lea was one of 24 athletes selected to compete this summer for Team Canada.
The former Kelowna Secondary School Owl recently finished her first season playing middle for the UBC Okanagan Heat after transferring from the University of Colorado last spring.
The six-foot-six Lea had an outstanding first year with UBCO, leading the Heat to its fourthstraight Canada West Final Four. She led Canada West in hitting percentage (.350) — tops in UBCO history and the 15th-best percentage in Canada West history.
Lea, who finished with 183 kills and 74 total blocks, was also named a finalist as the Outstanding Athlete of the Year at UBC Okanagan.
This is the second straight year the Heat has placed one of its players on the national team.
Brianna Beamish made the team last summer after completing her fifth season with the Heat. Beamish will join Lea on the team this summer, as Beamish made the team once again after a successful year playing in Austria for VC Tirol out of Innsbruck.
Lea is the third UBCO volleyball player to be selected to Team Canada.
Lea and Beamish will join another KSS product, Marisa Field, on the national team. Field played volleyball on the Kelowna campus for the Lakers in 2004-05 and 2005-06.
All three women were coached here by UBCO head coach Steve Manuel, a five-time national coach of the year.